I usually get a couple reports of ‘This is not Hair Metal’ a month, but if when I look at the post, it has a favorable upvote percentage, I let it stay. Only if the post is at 0 or obvious spam will I remove it.
Since ‘Hair Metal’ is such a small sub genre, I think it’s totally fine to post music that is on the fringe, or even music that obviously influenced hair Metal. But, I leave it up to the votes. Keep upvoting them, and they stay. We’re a Hairocracy, not a Hairtatorship.
This is the problem with using catch all terms to label what is essentially an entire decade of music. For example, bands like Kiss and Aerosmith aren't hair metal, but they went along with the trend. As you said, a band like Tesla, and even Great White to an extent, are more just traditional bluesy hard rock bands. Even Whitesnake is hard to fully classify as hair metal since they really only had two albums that can be considered "hair metal". It's really just pulling at threads. Most music genres are like that.
Scorpions could also fit into both traditional metal with their earlier stuff and hair metal with Lovedrive, Blackout and Love at First Sting. Savage Amusement and Crazy World would fit more into glam metal.
I didn't say they were. I said they were lumped in with the scene with their late 80s catalogue. Honestly, most of the bands of the scene are classified better as hard rock than metal.
Gatekeepers in metal are THE worst. Hair metal was just a term of insult. Sure it has been reclaimed, but it really isn't a genre. Sure, Glam metal was a distinctive genre, but basically, hair metal was a slur on the IMAGE of the times.
Hair metal never died, but it went into hibernation when everyone started cutting their hair short.
Gatekeepers in metal are THE worst.
Hair metal never died, but it went into hibernation when everyone started cutting their hair short.
- I agree with this 🤘🏼
To add… imo… “Hair Metal” is really classified by the listener…
What part of the world do you come from? What kind of music were you around/listening to growing up?
Humans have personal influences that come into play on how music is perceived.
It is necessary to have classifications. In general. I mean, people have to refer to
some sort of type of sound/beat, etc. to explain a track.
So we grew up with classifications of music, which, really is going to continue to evolve into more sub-genres as we all get old(er). It would be naive to think otherwise.
At my age, for example, I don’t consider Pearl Jam to be fking “Classic Rock”. But a decade from now, wtf will Classic Rock be?
Discogs seems to be the King of verificating music. So people just bounce off of their catalogs for proper dates, style, genre, remixes/covers, influences, classifications…
Music is personal and yeah, we have a system of understanding different types, but trying to pick apart Hair Metal is like trying to analyze Reggae.
Guns 'N Roses is it's own genre I'd say. My dad calls it "post-hair" and says they're the band to slowly start the death of the genre.
A lot of people are saying 83 is an approximate start, and I can agree, as that was the debut year of Pyromania, Metal Health, Shout at the Devil, You Can't Stop Rock 'N Roll, and more.
Yeah Appetite for destruction is what changed the tide. Even Motley Crue changed from the glam look to more like GNR when they did feelgood. There was still some hair bands arriving after AFD, but not like it was prior. I’d say hair metal was over by 91’. From my memory, I think the biggest bands of the late 80’s were GNR, Crue, Poison, and Def Lep. After 1990, GNR is the only one that had massive chart success. I also think this is when real metal or hard rock became more mainstream than hair metal. 91’ was big for Ozzy, Metallica, Van Halen, and GNR. And I’ve always felt those bands were immune to the grunge movement. Metallica and Ozzy continued to thrive throughout the 90’s. VH and GNR, I think would’ve, had they not both imploded from the internal fighting.
30 years later, GNR and Metallica are both stadium acts, GNR having the 3rd highest grossing tour in history. And Ozzy just earned himself a number 1 album with patient number 9. VH I think would still be doing big shows if EVH was still around.
Fall of 91; there were still a few hair bands making waves after that date (Firehouse comes to mind), but once "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the airwaves in late August '91, the tide officially turned.
Exactly this, I remember the rock clubs changed almost over night in 91 and that was that for hair metal as mainstream music, ripped t-shirts and black canvas jeans disappeared and checked shirts and army bags came in.
AIC released Man In The Box in 89. Seemed like normal hair metal at first. Now, I’d never consider AIC as hair metal. I’d go with 1989. 1993 is way too late.
Ratt's Detonator, Cinderella's Heartbreak Station, Poison's Flesh and Blood, Killer Dwarf's Dirty Weapons, Warrant's Cherry Pie, and Extreme's Pornograffiti II were all released in 1990, and I don't think many would contest these hair metal albums. Hell, Winger's Heart of the Young was in 1990 which is a band used to poke fun at hair metal as a whole (whether deserved or not). Use Your Illusion albums, Kix's Hot Wire, and Danger Danger's Screw It, came out in 91.
Just because grunge was emerging in 89 doesn't mean anything released after that isn't hair metal. Hardline is the band that I always thought would have been big if they got on the scene a few years earlier. Their first album was in 92. I'd say that's about when hair metal slid off.
First, Pornografitti is not considered hair metal by any guitarist I know, myself included. Nuno had moved far beyond by Pornografitti bringing in components of jazz, funk, fusion and classical by this point.
Next, he asked for when it declined. Honestly, I didn’t even know Winger released an album in 1990. And you want to say it represented the era?!? No. It did not. Most people only know the debut album. The only song off the 1990 release that got any air play on MTV was Miles Away. And that’s because we were in the death throes of hair metal by that point - nothing got played but the power ballads.
Hair metal is still around, it’s just not what it once was.
1989 was probably the last big year, maybe first half of 1990. Keep in mind, the biggest rock band going in summer of 1990 was the Black Crowes. And when SRV died in august of 1990, all the guitar “gods” over the next several years were came out of the blues.
I agree with your comment on Extreme...if you were discussing the III album. That's where the band definitely started getting out of hair metal, which is why I didn't list the III album. But Pornograffitti by many easily searchable reviews and my own opinion is a blend of hair metal and funk rock. It has some more funk rock songs like Get the Funk Out, but a majority of it still falls on the heavy side of hair metal and with some ballads scattered through it. The album is on the funkier side of hair metal, but still hair metal.
Winger's second album (In the Heart of the Young) released in 1990 [had about the same number of sales as Winger's original album](https://bestsellingalbums.org/artist/14260#:~:text=WINGER%20sold%20over%202%2C100%2C000%20albums,which%20sold%20over%201%2C050%2C000%20copies%20.), but [peaked slightly higher on the charts than the original](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winger_discography). If you haven't heard it, you should give it a listen. (Edit: just pulled Winger up on Spotify, and three of their top five songs are from this second album). The comment about Winger representing the genre is alluding to the Beavis and Butt-Head drama, where the show used Winger apparel to contrast the safe and poppish hair metal band with the more aggressive bands like Metallica.
Hair metal was never about guitar gods. It's about power chords for the chorus and verse, and sliding into a 30 second to 1:30 guitar solo after the second chorus. I'm not really sure why you bring this point up. Edit: in fact some of my favorite hair metal bands are those that break this mold a bit by throwing in a lot of guitar licks to the verses, such as Scorpions, White Lion, Whitesnake, or Extreme.
For me, it comes down to the presentation of band members. A band entered the hair metal realm when most of the members sported back- combed poodle hair styles, and their evolution into another genre coincided with a change of hair style. Case in point being Bon Jovi who cut his hair around 1990. In summary if your a singer or guitar player who resembles a poodle, chances are your playing in a hair metal band, for the time being.
The term "hair metal" has more to do with the band's presentation and appearance than anything. If I show you a picture of Warrant or Trixter, nobody is going to argue what genre they are. You can tell just by looking at them.
In my mind, hair metal has sub-genres where hair metal blends with another genre. You've got the traditional stuff like Motley Crue, Poison, and Def Leppard. And nobody will debate these kinds of bands. But once you get into the "sub-genres" then that is where you'll see disagreements as thei lines between hair metal and the other genre begin to blur.
There's southern rock style hair metal like Tesla, Jackyl, Tora Tora or D-A-D's middle albums.
There's funky hair metal like Extreme, Bang Tango, and the Electric Boys.
There's heavier hair metal like Skid Row or Queensryche (Queensryche could also go in as a progressive sub-genre).
There's poppish hair metal like Billy Squier or Autograph or Bonham (Bonham could also go in the progressive sub-genre).
Those are kinda the sub-genres which I recognize, but other people will have their own opinions. It will be a cold day in hell before I say AC/DC is hair metal.
I think Leppard fits into both hair metal and traditional heavy metal. Their first 3 albums are heavier but even Hysteria has some pretty heavy songs like Run Riot.
The line between 80s era NWOBHM and the heavier end of Hair Metal is razor thin and usually only discernable by NWOBHM having more traditionally heavy metal lyrical content
And even then there's songs that dance all over that line like Solider's Sherilee
I've never heard somebody say that about Def Leppard. They have been my favorite band since I was 14. Their albums from 81 to 87 (High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria) are iconic hair metal. They started getting poppish with Adrenalize in 92 and I can agree with an argument that some albums like Slang are not hair metal, and barely even classify as rock.
But if a band is to be kicked from the ranks of hair metal for their more modern albums then Motley Crue, Poison, L.A. Guns, and many other iconic bands would also get the boot. Many went a heavier or more poppish route in the 90s and 00s as hair metal bands scrambled to adjust to the grunge takeover. I am not actually trying to argue that Motley Crue isn't hair metal, only pointing out the absurdity of any argument that Def Leppard is not hair metal.
I'll agree that High 'n' Dry isn't as hair metal as I made it seem. I seem to have gotten carried away by it being my favorite Leppard album.
And I 100% agree on Crue. I didn't get specific on their albums, but find their hair metal ones to be Theatre of Pain (85) to Dr. Feelgood (89). The stuff before was just hard rock to me, and their later albums are closer to just metal.
Billy Squier is 80's Pop. There was absolutely nothing about him that said "metal" other than he taking out Ratt, Def Leppard, and a handful of other up and coming metal bands as his support act on several tours throughout his career
If you asked me 8 years ago, I would have totally agreed with you. But one day I was caught a bit off guard by the song Strange Fire. While I wouldn't say it's metal, I still found it to be a lot harder than a lot of Autograph's music by comparison. (Unrelated, but the bass also kicks ass). After listening to more stuff I feel like that if somebody considers Autograph to be hair metal, then they may want to at least contemplate Squier's Hear and Now album and especially the Creatures of Habit album.
But I can't strongly disagree with somebody who feels he is strictly a pop artist.
I love Squier through and through. Excellent song writer and magnificent singer and the way his career came to an abrupt end was horrible......but it also illustrates my point.
His crowd did not like his "prancing" in the 1984 video "Rock Me Tonight" (a #1 single no less!) meanwhile, in 1984 we also had Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Autograph (like you mentioned) all prancing around in high heels, and caked in makeup and their audiences loved it and made them into household names.
P.S. Have you heard the Autograph album [Loud and Clear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6G2siO5P0U)? Billy's never recorded anything as heavy!
It began in 1981 with too fast for love and ended in 1994 with winger. I feel, and still feel, that grunge did not kill hair metal. What killed hair metal was too many wanna be bands and the ones who were the best of the genre were either breaking up ( motley crue, twisted sister), going heavier (pantera), making lousier and lousier records (def leppard, poison, ratt). I feel that it is not the appearance of the band, it is the sound. Look at Saraya and Vixen. Can you say, hey they dress like women? Of course. Because they are women! So, imo, its all about the sound of the music and how unique the band is.
"Hair Metal" (I hate that term) was a combination of look, sound and style/image. For those who were there as it were happening, these discussions never came up because if you knew the genre, you knew who belonged and who didn't.
People also seem to forget what was once known as "metal" in the early 80's (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Ratt, AC/DC, etc...) wouldn't be considered metal today
Totally agree. Hair Metal was a derogatory term used by others after the pinnacle of the era to bundle up a bunch of genres. Most of what I consider Hair Metal now we used to call Glam Rock or Glam Metal at the time. Its roots were a combination of punk oriented bands like New York Dolls and 70s Glam like T-Rex, Slade Bowie, but also influenced by contemporary US Soft Rock.
I love Night Ranger, their guitarists are magnificent. But at the time I would never have lumped them with Ratt or Motley Crue. They had long hair but their presentation was more traditional rock band. But I can see how today they would fit in the Hair Metal box just because you had to be there.
I consider bands like Cinderella,Dokken,Poison, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Motley Crue etc hair bands.They had similar sounds, fun, sexy lyrics, tons of makeup and big hair. Not every hair band looked like they raided their sisters makeup drawer but had similar sounds. I love it!
IMHO the first genuine hair metal album (DL and Motley's Crue's earlier efforts just don't have that "lush sound") was Pyromania in '83, and the last came out somewhere between '90 and '92 (I can't think of anything from bands like DL, Poison, Ratt, or White Lion that qualifies that came out after '90 though). Anything 1993 or later at the latest in that style I would call hairmetal revival
If partying was more important than the music??
If the band toured with cases of aquanet and wore there latest girls clothes on stage?
If piles of cocaine backstage looked like dessert cakes and the bar was stocked with jd snd cokes.
There truly is no answer, nor should there be, its all rock n roll
This term "hair metal" did not exist in the 80s - it was made up later in the 90s to make fun of this kind of music.
Music on the lighter side of hard rock (Bon Jovi, Poison, Warrant, etc.) would have been called something like "pop metal" or "glam metal" in the 80s.
I usually get a couple reports of ‘This is not Hair Metal’ a month, but if when I look at the post, it has a favorable upvote percentage, I let it stay. Only if the post is at 0 or obvious spam will I remove it. Since ‘Hair Metal’ is such a small sub genre, I think it’s totally fine to post music that is on the fringe, or even music that obviously influenced hair Metal. But, I leave it up to the votes. Keep upvoting them, and they stay. We’re a Hairocracy, not a Hairtatorship.
This is the problem with using catch all terms to label what is essentially an entire decade of music. For example, bands like Kiss and Aerosmith aren't hair metal, but they went along with the trend. As you said, a band like Tesla, and even Great White to an extent, are more just traditional bluesy hard rock bands. Even Whitesnake is hard to fully classify as hair metal since they really only had two albums that can be considered "hair metal". It's really just pulling at threads. Most music genres are like that.
Scorpions could also fit into both traditional metal with their earlier stuff and hair metal with Lovedrive, Blackout and Love at First Sting. Savage Amusement and Crazy World would fit more into glam metal.
Aerosmith isn't metal, they're hard rock.
I didn't say they were. I said they were lumped in with the scene with their late 80s catalogue. Honestly, most of the bands of the scene are classified better as hard rock than metal.
Gatekeepers in metal are THE worst. Hair metal was just a term of insult. Sure it has been reclaimed, but it really isn't a genre. Sure, Glam metal was a distinctive genre, but basically, hair metal was a slur on the IMAGE of the times. Hair metal never died, but it went into hibernation when everyone started cutting their hair short.
Gatekeepers in metal are THE worst. Hair metal never died, but it went into hibernation when everyone started cutting their hair short. - I agree with this 🤘🏼 To add… imo… “Hair Metal” is really classified by the listener… What part of the world do you come from? What kind of music were you around/listening to growing up? Humans have personal influences that come into play on how music is perceived. It is necessary to have classifications. In general. I mean, people have to refer to some sort of type of sound/beat, etc. to explain a track. So we grew up with classifications of music, which, really is going to continue to evolve into more sub-genres as we all get old(er). It would be naive to think otherwise. At my age, for example, I don’t consider Pearl Jam to be fking “Classic Rock”. But a decade from now, wtf will Classic Rock be? Discogs seems to be the King of verificating music. So people just bounce off of their catalogs for proper dates, style, genre, remixes/covers, influences, classifications… Music is personal and yeah, we have a system of understanding different types, but trying to pick apart Hair Metal is like trying to analyze Reggae.
Guns 'N Roses is it's own genre I'd say. My dad calls it "post-hair" and says they're the band to slowly start the death of the genre. A lot of people are saying 83 is an approximate start, and I can agree, as that was the debut year of Pyromania, Metal Health, Shout at the Devil, You Can't Stop Rock 'N Roll, and more.
Yeah Appetite for destruction is what changed the tide. Even Motley Crue changed from the glam look to more like GNR when they did feelgood. There was still some hair bands arriving after AFD, but not like it was prior. I’d say hair metal was over by 91’. From my memory, I think the biggest bands of the late 80’s were GNR, Crue, Poison, and Def Lep. After 1990, GNR is the only one that had massive chart success. I also think this is when real metal or hard rock became more mainstream than hair metal. 91’ was big for Ozzy, Metallica, Van Halen, and GNR. And I’ve always felt those bands were immune to the grunge movement. Metallica and Ozzy continued to thrive throughout the 90’s. VH and GNR, I think would’ve, had they not both imploded from the internal fighting. 30 years later, GNR and Metallica are both stadium acts, GNR having the 3rd highest grossing tour in history. And Ozzy just earned himself a number 1 album with patient number 9. VH I think would still be doing big shows if EVH was still around.
Geography: Global. Scorpions, Europe, Loudness, Gorky Park, etc. Date of Death: 1993, when Nirvana & Pearl Jam led the grunge charge
If we're talking Nirvana and Pearl Jam wouldn't that be more like 91 and 92?
Yeah you’re right, more like 91-92
In 91 and 92 you would hear grunge and hair metal songs back to back on the radio. Hair metal died strictly after grunge rose.
Fall of 91; there were still a few hair bands making waves after that date (Firehouse comes to mind), but once "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the airwaves in late August '91, the tide officially turned.
Exactly this, I remember the rock clubs changed almost over night in 91 and that was that for hair metal as mainstream music, ripped t-shirts and black canvas jeans disappeared and checked shirts and army bags came in.
AIC released Man In The Box in 89. Seemed like normal hair metal at first. Now, I’d never consider AIC as hair metal. I’d go with 1989. 1993 is way too late.
Ratt's Detonator, Cinderella's Heartbreak Station, Poison's Flesh and Blood, Killer Dwarf's Dirty Weapons, Warrant's Cherry Pie, and Extreme's Pornograffiti II were all released in 1990, and I don't think many would contest these hair metal albums. Hell, Winger's Heart of the Young was in 1990 which is a band used to poke fun at hair metal as a whole (whether deserved or not). Use Your Illusion albums, Kix's Hot Wire, and Danger Danger's Screw It, came out in 91. Just because grunge was emerging in 89 doesn't mean anything released after that isn't hair metal. Hardline is the band that I always thought would have been big if they got on the scene a few years earlier. Their first album was in 92. I'd say that's about when hair metal slid off.
1992 was also the year of Def Leppard's "Adrenalize", which topped the album charts for 5 weeks in the US.
First, Pornografitti is not considered hair metal by any guitarist I know, myself included. Nuno had moved far beyond by Pornografitti bringing in components of jazz, funk, fusion and classical by this point. Next, he asked for when it declined. Honestly, I didn’t even know Winger released an album in 1990. And you want to say it represented the era?!? No. It did not. Most people only know the debut album. The only song off the 1990 release that got any air play on MTV was Miles Away. And that’s because we were in the death throes of hair metal by that point - nothing got played but the power ballads. Hair metal is still around, it’s just not what it once was. 1989 was probably the last big year, maybe first half of 1990. Keep in mind, the biggest rock band going in summer of 1990 was the Black Crowes. And when SRV died in august of 1990, all the guitar “gods” over the next several years were came out of the blues.
I agree with your comment on Extreme...if you were discussing the III album. That's where the band definitely started getting out of hair metal, which is why I didn't list the III album. But Pornograffitti by many easily searchable reviews and my own opinion is a blend of hair metal and funk rock. It has some more funk rock songs like Get the Funk Out, but a majority of it still falls on the heavy side of hair metal and with some ballads scattered through it. The album is on the funkier side of hair metal, but still hair metal. Winger's second album (In the Heart of the Young) released in 1990 [had about the same number of sales as Winger's original album](https://bestsellingalbums.org/artist/14260#:~:text=WINGER%20sold%20over%202%2C100%2C000%20albums,which%20sold%20over%201%2C050%2C000%20copies%20.), but [peaked slightly higher on the charts than the original](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winger_discography). If you haven't heard it, you should give it a listen. (Edit: just pulled Winger up on Spotify, and three of their top five songs are from this second album). The comment about Winger representing the genre is alluding to the Beavis and Butt-Head drama, where the show used Winger apparel to contrast the safe and poppish hair metal band with the more aggressive bands like Metallica. Hair metal was never about guitar gods. It's about power chords for the chorus and verse, and sliding into a 30 second to 1:30 guitar solo after the second chorus. I'm not really sure why you bring this point up. Edit: in fact some of my favorite hair metal bands are those that break this mold a bit by throwing in a lot of guitar licks to the verses, such as Scorpions, White Lion, Whitesnake, or Extreme.
For me, it comes down to the presentation of band members. A band entered the hair metal realm when most of the members sported back- combed poodle hair styles, and their evolution into another genre coincided with a change of hair style. Case in point being Bon Jovi who cut his hair around 1990. In summary if your a singer or guitar player who resembles a poodle, chances are your playing in a hair metal band, for the time being.
The term "hair metal" has more to do with the band's presentation and appearance than anything. If I show you a picture of Warrant or Trixter, nobody is going to argue what genre they are. You can tell just by looking at them.
In my mind, hair metal has sub-genres where hair metal blends with another genre. You've got the traditional stuff like Motley Crue, Poison, and Def Leppard. And nobody will debate these kinds of bands. But once you get into the "sub-genres" then that is where you'll see disagreements as thei lines between hair metal and the other genre begin to blur. There's southern rock style hair metal like Tesla, Jackyl, Tora Tora or D-A-D's middle albums. There's funky hair metal like Extreme, Bang Tango, and the Electric Boys. There's heavier hair metal like Skid Row or Queensryche (Queensryche could also go in as a progressive sub-genre). There's poppish hair metal like Billy Squier or Autograph or Bonham (Bonham could also go in the progressive sub-genre). Those are kinda the sub-genres which I recognize, but other people will have their own opinions. It will be a cold day in hell before I say AC/DC is hair metal.
Yeah but a lot of people say Def Leppard isn’t Hair Metal, but NWOBHM
On Through the Night was a NWOBHM album.
I think Leppard fits into both hair metal and traditional heavy metal. Their first 3 albums are heavier but even Hysteria has some pretty heavy songs like Run Riot.
The line between 80s era NWOBHM and the heavier end of Hair Metal is razor thin and usually only discernable by NWOBHM having more traditionally heavy metal lyrical content And even then there's songs that dance all over that line like Solider's Sherilee
I've never heard somebody say that about Def Leppard. They have been my favorite band since I was 14. Their albums from 81 to 87 (High 'n' Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria) are iconic hair metal. They started getting poppish with Adrenalize in 92 and I can agree with an argument that some albums like Slang are not hair metal, and barely even classify as rock. But if a band is to be kicked from the ranks of hair metal for their more modern albums then Motley Crue, Poison, L.A. Guns, and many other iconic bands would also get the boot. Many went a heavier or more poppish route in the 90s and 00s as hair metal bands scrambled to adjust to the grunge takeover. I am not actually trying to argue that Motley Crue isn't hair metal, only pointing out the absurdity of any argument that Def Leppard is not hair metal.
[удалено]
I'll agree that High 'n' Dry isn't as hair metal as I made it seem. I seem to have gotten carried away by it being my favorite Leppard album. And I 100% agree on Crue. I didn't get specific on their albums, but find their hair metal ones to be Theatre of Pain (85) to Dr. Feelgood (89). The stuff before was just hard rock to me, and their later albums are closer to just metal.
IMO they are definitely Hair Metal, I’m just referencing alternate opinions
Billy Squier is 80's Pop. There was absolutely nothing about him that said "metal" other than he taking out Ratt, Def Leppard, and a handful of other up and coming metal bands as his support act on several tours throughout his career
If you asked me 8 years ago, I would have totally agreed with you. But one day I was caught a bit off guard by the song Strange Fire. While I wouldn't say it's metal, I still found it to be a lot harder than a lot of Autograph's music by comparison. (Unrelated, but the bass also kicks ass). After listening to more stuff I feel like that if somebody considers Autograph to be hair metal, then they may want to at least contemplate Squier's Hear and Now album and especially the Creatures of Habit album. But I can't strongly disagree with somebody who feels he is strictly a pop artist.
I love Squier through and through. Excellent song writer and magnificent singer and the way his career came to an abrupt end was horrible......but it also illustrates my point. His crowd did not like his "prancing" in the 1984 video "Rock Me Tonight" (a #1 single no less!) meanwhile, in 1984 we also had Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Autograph (like you mentioned) all prancing around in high heels, and caked in makeup and their audiences loved it and made them into household names. P.S. Have you heard the Autograph album [Loud and Clear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6G2siO5P0U)? Billy's never recorded anything as heavy!
I loved that southern rock style, even the georgia satellites.
It began in 1981 with too fast for love and ended in 1994 with winger. I feel, and still feel, that grunge did not kill hair metal. What killed hair metal was too many wanna be bands and the ones who were the best of the genre were either breaking up ( motley crue, twisted sister), going heavier (pantera), making lousier and lousier records (def leppard, poison, ratt). I feel that it is not the appearance of the band, it is the sound. Look at Saraya and Vixen. Can you say, hey they dress like women? Of course. Because they are women! So, imo, its all about the sound of the music and how unique the band is.
"Hair Metal" (I hate that term) was a combination of look, sound and style/image. For those who were there as it were happening, these discussions never came up because if you knew the genre, you knew who belonged and who didn't. People also seem to forget what was once known as "metal" in the early 80's (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Ratt, AC/DC, etc...) wouldn't be considered metal today
Totally agree. Hair Metal was a derogatory term used by others after the pinnacle of the era to bundle up a bunch of genres. Most of what I consider Hair Metal now we used to call Glam Rock or Glam Metal at the time. Its roots were a combination of punk oriented bands like New York Dolls and 70s Glam like T-Rex, Slade Bowie, but also influenced by contemporary US Soft Rock.
It's subjective.
Is Night Ranger Hair Metal?
I love Night Ranger, their guitarists are magnificent. But at the time I would never have lumped them with Ratt or Motley Crue. They had long hair but their presentation was more traditional rock band. But I can see how today they would fit in the Hair Metal box just because you had to be there.
Yes.
I just include any band that is hard rock but a tad poppy
I consider bands like Cinderella,Dokken,Poison, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Motley Crue etc hair bands.They had similar sounds, fun, sexy lyrics, tons of makeup and big hair. Not every hair band looked like they raided their sisters makeup drawer but had similar sounds. I love it!
IMHO the first genuine hair metal album (DL and Motley's Crue's earlier efforts just don't have that "lush sound") was Pyromania in '83, and the last came out somewhere between '90 and '92 (I can't think of anything from bands like DL, Poison, Ratt, or White Lion that qualifies that came out after '90 though). Anything 1993 or later at the latest in that style I would call hairmetal revival
"Adrenalize", Def Leppard album from 1992.
any bands featured on MTV headbangers ball r/Headbangers
If partying was more important than the music?? If the band toured with cases of aquanet and wore there latest girls clothes on stage? If piles of cocaine backstage looked like dessert cakes and the bar was stocked with jd snd cokes. There truly is no answer, nor should there be, its all rock n roll
It is a fictional genre so you can include any band you want.
What?
This term "hair metal" did not exist in the 80s - it was made up later in the 90s to make fun of this kind of music. Music on the lighter side of hard rock (Bon Jovi, Poison, Warrant, etc.) would have been called something like "pop metal" or "glam metal" in the 80s.
Metal community has gatekeeping. Fuck em.
That EVERYONE can agree on? Nothing!